More on the 'steamy' issue

[matt the cat]

after many posts from individuals i though i'd just share what happened today.

I do about 3 miles a day in my car so at weekend i like to have a good blast. once the car is warm i wind it through the gears and for the first few hard blasts the vapour is terrible, water on the rear window the full hit. After that though it stops and i can nail it until my hearts content and no vapur whatsoever.

conclusion; as suggested before the engine producing watervapour is a sign of a good efficient engine, however i beleive that maybe due to the twin backboxes the condensate can sit in the exhaust until it forced out by way of large, high velocity volumes of gas and pressure due to the way the car is driven when 'ragged' once it clears then its fine. This seems consistent with others experiences.

 

[silkman]

Matt,
as the originator of the first thread I agree entirely with your summary. Warm it through, then give it the beans a couple of times and the vapour trail disappears.
Job done.
SILKMAN

 

[=CatasTrophy=]

i have to totally dissagree with this in my case anyway

mines continually does it and it doesnt clear ive tried it a few times and it defo doesnt clear ,engine is warmed up fully and im dropping from 4th to 3rd and as soon as u hit 5k rpm i get the vapour clouds and the water up the back window , now after speaking with a reno tech or tit as they should be known he tells me this is just a characteristic of the engine and its not desighned to be revved past 5K ... aye right thats utter bollocks ....

i had a chat with another guy i know and he recons it could be an ecu related problem or a fucked cat convertor ?????

anyway im booked in monday morning and im taking outa tech from the garge to show them as its not right the car does this ,i also get a sort pinking kinda noise aswell when revving over 5k

im very concerned about this and reno better have a good answer for me without none of the bullshit..

 

[matt the cat]

fair enough fella, maybe yours is something more than others are having....the pinking is deffo a problem though.

keep us posted.........

 

[George K]

Just out of interest, and for a bit of a laugh, we used to own a turbo-charged 2CV - perhaps the only one ever (it was originally built for Steve Cropley, the then editor of Car maagazine, by a mutual friend) - and it used to suffer from the exhaust steam problem. I eventually solved it completely by drilling a small hole in the lowest point of the rear silencer - it was surprising how much water came out.

I would guess that the volume of the two rear silencers on the Clio and the surface area exposed to the cool, outside air and hence condensing atmosphere must be a contributory factor. Where people have changed ot a single and probably smaller back box, does this problem persist?